The referees are as much to blame for the Xavier-Cincinnati brawl as any of the Bearcats or Musketeers who trash-talked or threw punches, so says Purdue coach Matt Painter.

From his office in West Lafayette, Ind., Painter said he saw the fight coming an hour or more before anyone went toe-to-toe and certainly before any punches were thrown.

If only the referees had made moves early in the game to quell tempers, the emotional Crosstown Shootout would not have ended in fisticuffs and eight players wouldn't be facing suspensions from one to six games.

Painter didn't call referees Mike Roberts, Tony Crisp or Jeff Anderson by name, but said their inaction over the course of the game directly led to the game-ending, benches-clearing brawl with 9.4 seconds remaining.

"Experienced officials and guys who have control of games, they handle it, take care of it early and it's not an issue," Painter told WFNI-AM on Tuesday. "It is easy as an official if guys are trash talking to say, 'No more.' It's real easy after they continue to do it to give them a tech. And once guys get a tech, they're not the same. They're not going to go about things the same way.

"Some people always complain about the same guys they've seen for 20, 25, 30 years ... but they never let the game get out of control."

Atlantic 10 Conference coordinator of referees Reggie Greenwood was in attendance for the game and said his crew "did an excellent job trying to prevent the escalation.” Even with the benefit of hindsight, Greenwood missed that call, too.

Painter said anyone and everyone in attendance -- plus anyone watching on TV, as he was -- could see the tensions mounting, the heated words being exchanged constantly, the extraneous post-whistle bumps, pushes and shoves.

"I watched that game in the first half, and I'm really not that smart a guy, but I said (to my assistants) that something is going to happen ... there's going to be a fight here," Painter said. "If it's easy for me to see it (from my office), then it's got to be easy to see if you're working the game."

Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin says he asked Roberts, Crisp and Anderson to assess technical fouls early and often -- even to his own players -- to dampen emotions, but his requests fell on def ears.

"It was allowed to happen," Painter told WFNI. "It was an emotional game. They about got into it in that Xavier-Cincinnati game before it started. It's not hard to see. We don't need to bring in the best refereeing crew in the world to figure that out. They almost came to blows last year and they're talking before the game.

"To me, it was really avoidable."

Painter didn't let Xavier coach Chris Mack or Cronin off the hook, either. He didn't call either by name, but it was obvious that they share blame for not disciplining their players leading up to the fight.

"I've got a couple wild cards, we all do, ... a couple younger guys who get real emotional and they talk. And you have to stop them right away," Painter said. "I just sub 'em out and say 'If you're going to act a fool, you're coming out.' It's no big deal."

Still, there is a pattern of behavior at play with Xavier. Painter said he had to warn his players repeatedly about the Musketeers' trash-talking and unsportsmanlike behavior before and during Purdue's 66-63 loss at Xavier on Dec. 3.

"Right away, from watching film, they talk," Painter said of the Xavier players. "They talk a lot. That was one of the first things we talked about in the scouting report (to our players) was don't get caught up in that.

"In the game, I'm talking to officials about their guys coming running on the court and (bumping into, pushing) our guys coming off a time out and the referees look at me like I'm crazy. I go back and watch the film, and it's easy to see and they just ignored it.

"To me, it could've been handled. To me, if you handled it in the Purdue game, then it doesn't happen in the Cincinnati game -- different crews, different guys, but same things."

To Painter, it's simple. If the referees had exerted some control over the game and whistled Xavier and Cincinnati players for trash-talking early in the game, the players would have made necessary adjustments. Just like they do in many situations, game to game.

"Every time they call a hand check in the backcourt, we adjust," he said. "Every time they call our guys for being over-aggressive and fouling, you know what they do? They adjust. Every time they call you for putting your hand in the post defense, you adjust. It's what players do. As an official, when you make those calls, the players adjust.

"You've got to run the game. If you don't and you let it go and you just think in your mind, 'Hey I'm going to let the players win this,' you're going to have situations like that (fight). It was not hard to see (coming)."